031074 osv Why go to church?

"SURE, I believe there's a God, and I think I know what He wants me to do, how He wants me to act. But I also believe what I do and how I act are between God and me. I really. don't see any need for organized religion. Most of all, I don't see any need for going to church. Why, I can worship God just as well by meditating out in the woods or on a lake shore."

The argument was as old as organized religion. It was just as shallow and fallacious as ever - and just as hard to answer, considering the mental attitude of the young man to whom I was talking. I used all the tried and true arguments, but none of them made a dent.
It wasn't the first time I'd been in a discussion like this, and it wasn't the first time I'd failed to convince someone of the value - more than that - the necessity of God's Church. For the truth is, people can have a relationship with their Maker, and they can and often do have such a relationship outside formal religion.

No matter how hard I tried, I still couldn't come up with a way to answer effectively someone who is sincerely convinced there is no need for organized religion. And I must confess, for a long time, the answer eluded me.

Until I went for a ride on a sled.

You heard all about that in the last column. How I injured my back and spent a week in the hospital, plus several weeks at home. During that time, I worked from home, and discovered it was considerably more difficult than being at the office. It took more time, and no matter how hard I tried, the work wasn't as well done.

This came as quite a surprise to me. You'd think things would be easier. After all, I was free of the routine of the off ice, the telephone and the countless interruptions that are part of any day in a newspaper office. I really should have relished that freedom, and it should have made me into a more creative, imaginative person. But it didn't work out that way.

Meeting Difficult Deadlines

A different set of priorities determined my schedule at home, making it more difficult to meet deadlines. I missed the things that are second nature to me. Little things like reference sources, glue pots, paper clips, pencils, foolscap and erasers (particularly erasers). But most of all, I missed the give and take of our staff people. It wasn't as easy to think without them.

Now that I think back, I wish all this had happened before my conversation about religion with my young friend. For I think I've learned a lesson that could have been applied to him.

Freedom from the obligation's of organized religion is appealing much the same way "freedom" from office routine seems appealing. If we reject the institutional Church, we're not bothered with religious duties, with dogma, or with that bothersome requirement of moral and financial support of a religious organization.

But just as the "atmosphere" of my office mikes it easier for me to do my job, simply because all the things I need to do that job are available, so Catholics find in their Church all they need to make it easier for them to worship God, love their brothers and save their own souls.

At the office, I had the news wire and the mail to keep me in touch with the world. In the Church, Catholics have the sacraments, those God-given channels of supernatural grace to keep them closely in touch with their Maker.

At the office, I had the feedback from a staff of fine people to help keep me in balance in my job as an editor. In the Church, Catholics have their priceless two-way spiritual communication with all the members of Christ's Mystical Body to keep them spiritually balanced.

Maybe this comparison, faulty as it is, could have helped my friend see why God founded a Church that's more than an It organized religion," that it's a living, breathing, acting organism, Christ's Living Body, of which we are all members. Maybe it could have helped him see how, united in that Body, Christians can do more than "have a relationship" with their Maker, they can be one with Him. He could have seen more clearly that the Mass is more than a ceremony of worship. It's that, of course, but it's the very source of that Divine Life which animates the Church - and it's given us by God.

Then, perhaps, he'd have begun to realize if you really want to love God and love your neighbor - which is what being a Christian is all about - there's no reason to make it and
harder than it really is.